AJ Perez, Founder and CEO: NVBOTS has developed a fully automated end-to-end solution for 3D printing. They offer commercial and educational enterprise solutions, meaning one or more administrators can share their automated 3D-printing capacity with large groups of people.

With no cash resources, entrepreneurs must resort to building prototypes in their garages, academic research labs, co-working spaces, or even their kitchen tables. At MassChallenge, the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet, we’re dedicated to providing finalists with ample office space, supplies, prototyping labs, mentorship opportunities, education and curriculum, and a no-strings-attached prize pool at the end of our program.

In 2008, a group of college friends and I started Moneythink, a financial mentorship program that bridges the achievement gap in our community. In 2011, we were recognized by President Obama as one of the best new ideas for social innovation, and in 2013, we were the only nonprofit to win the prestigious MassChallenge award. We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings as a grassroots student club, and have since evolved into a new breed of nonprofit: a tech nonprofit.

How has your experience at MassChallenge helped your company grow and what is the one milestone you’re most proud of?

We were able to clearly define the 3 different service/product lines we now offer (on-site bootcamps, online bootcamps and Nativo Digital, our gamified and adaptive technology education platform for kids and teenagers), to define a strategy for B2B, and to close our seed round. We started piloting our proprietary software.